Nocturne Above Derry

WHEN Venus hung like a bell in the evening sky,
And laughter could be heard two farms away,
And crows flew to deep woods without a cry,
And westward lingered a memory of day
Among the trees that had no sound or stir,
Night crossed the lake and wandered up the hill.
I wandered, too, my goal the last dark fir
High on the crest, and I climbed up with a will.
There Night and I were parted, he to pass
Along his way through valley and through town,
I to rest with crickets in the grass.
Then from the lonely hilltop I looked down
And saw the farms of Derry with their lights
Like some near constellation. Set on high
Were stars like farms glowing through darkness, too.
One day men will be traveling there, thought I;
Abroad will mean the stars then. Yet I knew
There would be some like me content to go
No higher than that fir that props the sky
Over the farms of Derry down below.